What is a Raspberry Pi?

In today’s market a decent laptop or desktop costs around $1000. But there is a computer for only $30! A Raspberry Pi is a small computer that is the size of a credit card. This computer was originally made for everyone to be able to program. Before you buy one, just know that the monitor, keyboard, mouse, and speakers are not free and not included. Just like a computer, the Raspberry Pi features HDMI port, Ethernet port, USB ports, Audio Out port, Composite Video RCA port, and a Micro-USB port.

Raspberry Pi Model B

To power this mini computer, plug in a power cable (like a Samsung phone charger), plug in a monitor using an HDMI cable, and finally plug in the keyboard and mouse via USB. After the Raspberry Pi is setup the user will be greeted with command prompt where the user can log in to use the computer.

The Raspberry Pi operating system, Linux, is very beneficial. Linux is a free operating system that could have Apache, MySQL, PHP, or even make a Raspberry Pi server. The cool thing about the Linux operating system is that it looks just like a Windows 7 operating system.

Raspberry Pi operating system

The only major thing that distinguishes a regular computer from a Raspberry Pi is the specifications. Raspberry Pi is not made for advanced tasks like what a regular computer could handle. For example, visiting social networks, playing games, or watching movies are definitely not for this computer.

What is there to do on a Raspberry Pi? There are many projects on a Raspberry Pi. Programming is perfect on this device. For example, program in Python using an application “IDLE 3”. Connect devices to the Raspberry Pi and you can do even more! For more projects, look at the following websites:

Is a Raspberry Pi worth it? Depends who you are. If you are a person who wants to program and do projects with something cheap then this is the device for you. If you are someone who wants a computer for daily use, checking emails, or going on the Internet, then get a Mac or PC.

Overall, the Raspberry is innovative and it has a successful future ahead.